Wireless Wrap Up: Episode 1

We've just debuted the inaugural episode of Joni Blecher's Wireless Wrap Up! The clip is inspired by the heavily-edited video blogging style used by vlogbrothers. Editing out all the "um's" and "uh's" speeds up the video and better holds the viewers attention.

MNIP returns!

Hello there! I've decided to hold on to what's familiar and return to my old wordpress blog. The truth is, I tried to switch my jpatconnor.com website to a new URL - mylifevisually.com. In so doing, I kind of... deleted my Wordpress admin. I think. The blog posts and embedded videos are still there, but all of the lovely wordpress design has been stripped, leaving the bare bones text, and making the blog look like something directly out of the dawn of the internet. Despite all that, I'm back adding entries to this blog, and I hope you'll join me once again!

mynameispat Has Moved!

Hello,

mynameispat has moved! The blog has been fully translated, so you can check out the new stuff as well as every old post and comment.

Click: http://www.jpatconnor.com/

Sincerely,

pat

Who Are You? or Tunnel, Light, and a Map

In this video, I used a Canon SLR in favor of my older PowerShot to re-shoot the mapping video. Although the camera gave me more creative control, my inexperience with the camera got the better of me when shooting in low light, and the final sequence looks crazily over-saturated. What I did achieve with this piece is an audio track that gives the still images a sense of three-dimensions. As I learned from reading the Final Cut manual, humans use sound to locate objects in space. So, taking advantage of the steady pan in the video, I similarly panned the audio from right to left. The effect is subtle, but I think that I've successfully used this aspect of video (often overlooked) to boost the realism of the still images.

Mapping Test Video

Following is a short test video for a project about mapping. My inspiration was the Google Maps Street View, which is a documentation of various cities across the globe. In the program, the user is free to look in any direction, and move along the street as a car would. I was interested in the process of obtaining the photos, and it turns out that a vehicle is equipped with 9 cameras and a GPS. Those photos are then merged to create a cylindrical image that can be navigated by the user.

In my project, I wanted to stitch together two points on the map similar to the way that the different photos are stitched together in Photoshop. The effect is a constant pan, but one that shifts across space and time.

The Breakup of the Hydrilla

I uncovered this video while using my older external HD. It's dated 3/24/06, but in my memory there's no way that I could have been in Wakulla Springs at that time.

The forest on the opposite bank of the spring is reflected in the smooth water. Invasive Hydrilla breaks up the reflected image. The water and the plant reminds me of a study of surface by Claude Monet in the UMMA called The Breakup of the Ice.

Combination

Alternate edit for Combination. In this case using a diptic to keep each scene separate throughout the video.

waveField

Two perspectives on a difficult conversation. The obscured view acts out the narrative supplied by the interview.

Map

I'm interested in using photography to generate video.

Videos from Rus

In many cases, the snow removers had to use bulky equipment, like this buldozer. Difficult to use a machine that isn't meant for the job specifically.



Outside the historic Art Museum in St. Pete. Video was taken from the walkway leading to the frozen Neva river.



Video taken at a famous pedestrian walkway late at night in St. Pete. The walkway was the best cleared area during the whole trip to Rus.



Provincial Russia was a winter wonderland. Here, our group is visiting the birthplace of influential poet N. Klyuev.



Couldn't help but take a video of this tractor. It kept moving back and forth outside a historic building we visited. Only a towel covered the engine.



We couldn't take the bus over this small log-bridge, so we moved into an old VW truck. If any of us were scared, the driver told us to close our eyes.

Petersburg

Photos from St. Petersburg! Today, we helped students in a Russian k-12 school locate St. Petersburg FLA on a map of the U.S.... More to come...

Top 10 awesome things about my trip so far:

Learning history/background of St. Pete, and experiencing city on foot

Actually reading words in Cyrillic

Learning key phrase "thank you" in Russian and getting by on sheer over-confidence in conversations

Easily transitioning to thinking in rubles and a 24 hr. clock

Grinning and bearing the cold, snow, and ice like a good Russian

Saving a fellow pedestrian from slipping and falling in St. Pete

Having tea and cookies while working past closing at the Vytegra History museum, then packing up and walking home (like an actual resident would)

Okay, that's only 8, but it's well past midnight and I have a big day tomorrow!

final postCard

My final image for a series of postcards that will be used to promote our thesis projects. The repeated square images represent how the videos can be seen in many places simultaneously via web video.

IP postcardTest

After mocking this up in Photoshop, I think it'd be better to create the collage in reality, and photograph it. What do you think?

FCP Screen Image

For all you nerdy Final Cut Pro users out there, here's a screen grab of the Machine timeline.

Machine

Developed a method of editing that allows me to arrange frames of video into a rhythmic pattern.

Visa

My Russian Visa arrived last week - great opportunity to make some films outside of UM campus! I've noticed that many video artists shoot video abroad. The avenues of foreign countries make the resulting pieces seem even less familiar.

I'm going to provincial Russia.

Figure with Advising Dialogue

Incorporating a discussion with my advisor. How do you advise a student who won't succeed?

Piping or I'm too Sad to Tell You

Inspired by video artist Ken Jacobs, A&D Penny Stamps lecturer 22nd March 2007 (Kate West: "feels like Spring!"). Other lectures are archived at the video resources library in the Art, Architecture, and Engineering library. http://guides.lib.umich.edu/profile.php?uid=5926

Sunrise

Using video to manipulate time.